The Evanston, IL public library puts out one of the book world's most respected year-end lists of great books for kids. I'm thrilled that this year STARSTUFF, the middle-grade Sci-Fi anthology edited & with stories by me and William Alexander, made the list! afuse8production.slj.com/2025/10/29/a...

One recent podcast on the “top 10 sci-fi film franchises” ruled out Alien because it was horror, while another on the “top 10 horror film franchises” ruled out Alien because it’s sci-fi. 🤪 I guess that’s the reward Ridley Scott gets for genre-bending. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/p...

New! It's the FINAL EPISODE of my podcast Soonish, featuring an interview with my old MIT friend and colleague David Mindell about his 2025 book The New Lunar Society: An Enlightenment Guide to the Next Industrial Revolution www.soonishpodcast.org/soonish-517-...

The latest Penny Farthings newsletter from the Hub & Spoke Audio Collective is out today! We've got news about comings (the Audio Flux Podcast has joined our ranks), goings (Vanessa Lowe's amazing show Nocturne is going fully indie) and much more. Subscribe at hubspokeaudio.substack.com

I'm beyond thrilled to help welcome the Audio Flux Podcast @audioflux.bsky.social into the world—as part of our small but mighty Hub & Spoke Audio Collective, no less! Welcome Julie, John, Amy, and all of the past & future Fluxworks contributors. www.audioflux.org/podcast

What's public about public media, and why does that matter? Today I'm re-broadcasting a fantastic, inspiring, sobering conversation between Jay Allison @jayall.bsky.social, founder of WCAI and @transom.bsky.social, and Erica Heilman, host of Rumble Strip soonish.simplecast.com/episodes/wha...

Today would have been the 90th birthday of my journalism mentor Victor McElheny—one of the leading science journalists of his era and a huge champion of the craft at MIT's @ksjatmit.bsky.social He died July 14. I was glad to contribute to this collection of remembrances ksj.mit.edu/news/2025/07...

My latest podcast episode looks at the movement in places like OR, CO, TX and NM to use psychedelics in mental health treatment. That's also the subject of The Enchanted State, an event coming up 9/7 here in Santa Fe: liminafoundation.org www.soonishpodcast.org/soonish-516-...

Could psychedelics become an important (and legal) tool for mental health treatment? In this episode meet Adele Getty, co-organizer of The Enchanted State, a Sept. 7 event in Santa Fe celebrating the legacy and future of psychedelics in New Mexico. soonish.simplecast.com/episodes/tow...

What the actual F is wrong with this puppy on the cover of the new LL Bean catalog?

With apologies to Mon Mothma #andor #nokings

New Mexico friends: Choose from three local screenings of "A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot," about the OG feminist vegetarian restaurant in Connecticut. Director Annie Laurie Medonis will present the film 6/6 in Las Cruces, 6/11 in Santa Fe, 6/16 in Taos!

I’ll miss Pocket, which Mozilla is shutting down. I don’t use it as much as I used to, but I still love it for the way it extracts and declutters Web articles. I don’t think browser bookmarks can take its place, as Mozilla argues. Anybody have another favorite read-it-later app?

The future can be better. Read how in STARSTUFF, out today from @candlewickpress.bsky.social and @mitpress.bsky.social, co-edited by ‪@willalex.bsky.social and me, with 10 inspiring sci-fi short stories for readers age 8 and up—including one by Will and one by me!

Authors this round include @delilahsdawson.bsky.social, @renanbernardo.com, @mytholder.bsky.social, @guygavrielkay.bsky.social, @stephenking.bsky.social, @leemandelo.bsky.social, @leonneyfakh.bsky.social, @tochitruestory.bsky.social, @waderoush.com, and @djangowexler.bsky.social!

Has anyone else noticed that the latest AI models can be pretty lazy? I often get answers that amount to "I don't know, why don't you go look it up." It reminds me of the old saying LMGTFY. Maybe they're just trying to save electricity, but sheesh, I asked for a reason.

Today's guest on my podcast, Soonish, is author, science journalist, and eclipse chaser David Baron. The most important piece of advice Baron ever got: “Before you die, you owe it to yourself to see a total solar eclipse.” (And you can do that on April 8!) www.soonishpodcast.org/511-otherwor...

So proud of my friend & audio colleague Tamar Avishai. She reported and produced the just-released final episode of Monumental, a PRX podcast exploring the meaning of historical monuments. She takes a deep look at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in AL. play.prx.org/listen?ge=pr...

I knew that The Truman Show was shot in Seaside, FL, the planned community that stood in for “Seahaven.” But I did not know until reading about it in The New Yorker today that Truman’s house is actually Matt Gaetz’s family home. And now the movie seems 10 times creepier.

This week we published the 50th episode of my tech-and-culture podcast, Soonish. With special co-host Tamar Avishai of The Lonely Palette podcast, we look back at the first 49 episodes and ask how many of the show's predictions about the future were correct. www.soonishpodcast.org/soonish-510-...

First Bluesky post. It’s a doozie. I GUESSED TODAY’S WORDLE ON THE FIRST LINE